With the help of several
volunteers especially Ms. Liang who is the contact person with the Youth of St.
Francis Xavier Church Shenzhen, I organized the fifth youth gathering of Holy
Family Church on January 3 afternoon.

After opening talk from Fr. Lu,
he led us to sing action song爱使我们相聚在一起, followed by a 30 minutes praise
and worship prayer.

Several parishioners of
Holy Family and I went to Kuitan-Jieyang（葵潭-揭阳）
to attend the sacrament of matrimony ceremony of Ms. Yue, one of the readers, on
January 4.It took around 3 hours by car
for the six of us and two hours by high speed train for the two of us.We had dinner with Ms. Yue’s family and friends
before going to Sacred Heart of Jesus Church.The sacrament of matrimony was held before the regular Sunday evening
Mass.The parishioners chanted prayers in
Chaozhou language （潮州话）before
the sacrament of Matrimony ceremony and after the Mass.The Church was full and there was children
choir including the organist and the commentator.As I looked at the children choir, I was
surprise to see Mr. Li, one of the minor seminarians who visited Holy Family
Church last year.Later on I knew it’s
his hometown.

Three readers of the Holy
Family Church, in red blouses and red tie, were in charge for the readings in
Putonghua.The Mass was bilingual
Chaozhou language and Putonghua. The Shenzhen parishioners asked me to stay because
there was no high speed train to Shenzhen anymore and there is enough room only
for seven persons on the car.I agreed
to stay even though I didn’t prepare for staying.I stayed at the guest room at the third floor
of the rectory and convent building next to the Church building.

The bride and the groom went to their parents’ home.The groom and his family picked the bride up the
next afternoon then they would go for the wedding banquette held by the groom’s
family in the evening.It’s a customs
that the parents and siblings of the bride do not attend the bridal banquette.The
bride usually wears red gown and will go to her parents’ home （回娘家）on
the third or twelve days later.

I attended Chaozhou Mass the
next morning.Once again, Fr. Ceng
introduced me after the Mass in Chaozhou language.After breakfast prepared by Sr. Chen, Fr.
Ceng, Mr. Wang and I went to Da Keng Tou-Jieyang （大坑头-揭阳）
to send three big holy pictures for the Church.All of the residences (around 300-400 persons) of this small village are
Catholics.They destroyed the old Church
and have a temporary Church building as they are building a two floor Church on
the same compound.Several workers are
local women.

We stopped at a parishioners’ house on the way to
bless a cemetery lot in the middle of Longan farm.After having gongfu tea and lunch at two different
parishioners’ house, we went to Bailing-Jieyang（白领-揭阳）.

The residence of Bailing village is around 5,000
persons and they are all Catholics.We
went to pay tribute to one of the residences and then went to Fr. Ceng’s parents’
house while waiting the funeral service.Several older people came to have
gongfu tea and chat.Most of them could
only speak Chaozhou language.A man
lighted firecrackers and threw it on the ground as the opening of funeral procession to the Church,
followed by a marching band, the coffin, and the family. After the funeral service,
the marching band gave a tribute and then the coffin was brought in the similar
order including the firecrackers but longer route procession while chanting
prayers using loudspeaker. Mr. Wang and I joined the procession half way and
went to Church.Mr. Wang said several
parishioners went to Church three times a day to pray, especially the rosary. There
were several elderly people praying.We
wait at Fr. Ceng’s house as he was going to baptize a child. After having lunch
at the Church hall prepared by the family, Mr. Li showed me the memorial
pictures of 7 priests from this village.The Church hall is located behind the Church and can hold 15 tables of
10 persons.Usually the family prepares
meals three times a day since one day before the funeral service.

Fr. Ceng, Mr. Wang, Mr. Li
and I went to Epiphany Church Chikeng-Shanwei （赤坑-汕尾）and
then having dinner with Fr. Yao, Fr. Li, Sr. Chen at one of the parishioners’
house.We went back to Church for
Chaozhou Mass.Fr. Yao is the pastor of
this area and he takes care of 25 Churches and chapels.Sr. Chen and I stayed overnight at a
parishioner’s house.

The Church was opened at 6:00 a.m. on January 6 and
parishioners chanted the morning’s prayer in Chaozhou language.It's the Foundation Day of Maryknoll Sisters! The Mass began at 7:00 a.m. and the Church was full
both inside and outside.They came
from this small village and the surrounding area as that’s the customs on the
Feast Day.There was podrige available for
all parishioners in the Church compound. They lighted a lot of firecrackers in front of the Church compound.

After brunch at a parishioner’s house, we went to
Immaculate Heart of Mary Church at Niu Pi Di-Shanwei（牛皮地-汕尾）.
Fr. Ceng, Mr. Wang and Mr. Li dropped me at Lufeng （陆峰）train
station as I went back to Shenzhen then Hong Kong.

I am grateful for this opportunity to
visit several Churches in this rural area to see the life and devotions of these
long generation Catholics and also their warm welcome and generosity.Many young
people went to the big cities for study or job.Around 60-70% of the parishioners of Holy Family are Chaozhou people.Mr. Li said that he can’t chant the prayer with the
Chi Keng people because there are slightly different dialects in this area.